There is known a vehicular torque converter which is provided as a fluid-operated power transmitting device in a power transmitting path between an engine serving as a drive power source of a vehicle and an automatic transmission and which is configured to boost a torque generated by the drive power source and to transmit the boosted torque to the above-described automatic transmission. Generally, the vehicular torque converter is provided with a pump impeller rotated about an axis by the drive power source such as an engine, a turbine impeller rotated about the above-indicated axis with a working fluid fed from the pump impeller, and a stator impeller disposed between the pump impeller and the turbine impeller rotatably about the above-indicated axis. The stator impeller is provided to change a direction of flow of the working fluid returned from the turbine impeller toward the pump impeller, so that the direction of flow includes a component parallel to the direction of rotation of the pump impeller, for assisting the rotation of the pump impeller, to thereby boost the output torque.
Patent Document 1 discloses an example of such a vehicular torque converter, which is made compact in construction by offsetting the vanes of the stator impeller supported by a stationary member via a one-way clutch, from the one-way clutch toward the output side, that is, toward the side of the vanes of the pump impeller, while similarly offsetting the vanes of the turbine impeller and the vanes of the pump impeller, and by providing the stator impeller with a thrust bearing in its shoulder portion formed between its radially inner cylindrical portion and an extension from a widthwise central part of the cylindrical portion toward the its vanes, so that the dimension of the vehicular torque converter in the direction of the above-indicated axis, namely, the axial dimension is reduced.